Camp David Accords

Camp David Accords (1978).After negotiations at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and the Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, with President Jimmy Carter looking on, signed the accords at the White House on 17 September 1978. The Camp David Accords consisted of two basic agreements. The “Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel” called for full recognition and diplomatic relations between the two states, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Sinai Peninsula (occupied since the Six‐Day War of 1967), and Israeli right of passage through the Suez Canal. “A Framework for Peace in the Middle East” called for implementation of UN Resolutions 242 and 338 and was intended to constitute a framework for ongoing peace negotiations between Israel and its other neighbors. Negotiations on the problem of a Palestinian homeland would continue during a five‐year transitional period.

The United States hoped to promote peace and to reduce Soviet influence in the vital Middle East region. President Sadat gambled that his efforts would result in increased American aid and investment in Egypt's failing economy. The government of Israel sought to end hostilities with Egypt (ongoing since 1948), given the increase in frequency and intensity of Palestinian terrorist attacks launched from within Lebanon during the Lebanese civil war.

While Sadat, Begin, and President Carter were widely hailed as heroes, Arab reaction was mixed. The Arab League and Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) condemned Egypt for having violated an agreement made at Khartoum in September 1967 calling for Arab unity in dealing with Israel and for leaving the Palestinian problem unresolved. Islamic revivalists condemned the lack of mention of Jerusalem, the third holiest city of Islam. Ultimately, the accords contributed to the isolation of Egypt within the Arab world and to Sadat's assassination in 1981. They did, however, continue to serve as the framework for further negotiations, including between Israel and the PLO in Madrid in 1991. They also came to symbolize President Carter's style of personal peacemaking, an asset he would employ frequently during his postpresidential years.
See also Foreign Relations: U.S. Relations with the Middle East.

Bibliography

William B. Quandt , Camp David: Peacemaking and Politics, 1986.
Dan Tschirgi , The American Search for Mideast Peace, 1989.

Margaret M. Manchester